Digest of Gifted Research

Welcome to the Digest of Gifted Research (formerly Duke Gifted Letter), published by the Duke University Talent Identification Program. The Digest is a trusted resource for research-based information about raising and educating academically talented children.

Winter 2001 Book Reviews

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 16:34

The Struggle to Be Strong: True Stories by Teens about Overcoming Tough Times, by Al Desetta, M.A., and Sybil Wolin, Ph.D. Free Spirit, 2000. Paperback, 179 pp., ISBN 1-57542-079-1. $14.95.

This book addresses relevant challenges that face today’s youth. Dr. Wolin clearly defines seven “resiliences”—insight, independence, relationships, initiative, creativity, humor, and morality—that, she contends, are necessary for coping with difficult times. Instead of simply recounting individual stories of pain and triumph, the authors present them in a manner that encourages readers to learn from...

Go to the Head of the Class?

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 16:29

Should gifted five-year-olds skip kindergarten and enter the first grade? Or can they benefit from developmental activities like storytelling, block building, painting, music, and finger plays in kindergarten?

Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar became more and more anxious about the first day of school for their vivacious five-year-old, Stephen. As he happily splashed in a pool with his two friends, he looked and behaved like a typical five-year-old. Yet a few minutes earlier he had recited a litany of battles from the Civil War, including the names of commanding officers and the numbers of casualties. “How,” the worried parents wondered aloud, “can he ever be challenged in a kindergarten class...

Ability Grouping and Gifted Children

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 16:16

Ability grouping and tracking are two methods of grouping students for instruction. Ability grouping, commonly practiced in elementary schools, is when students of similar ability or achievement level within a class are grouped for instruction. Tracking, or grouping between classes, occurs more often in middle and high schools.

Critics of ability grouping and tracking claim that students in lower academic tracks are often taught simplified, less stimulating lessons by less experienced or less talented teachers. They also suggest that low-income and minority students receive an inequitable education because they are disproportionately represented in lower tracks. These concerns...

Depression and Gifted Children

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 16:10

Although there is no evidence of higher rates of depression and suicide among intellectually or academically gifted students, depression is epidemic among children and adolescents in general. As many as 10 percent of children suffer from depression before age 12. Rates of depression are higher now than they have ever been, and they are expected to continue to increase. Also, the onset of depression is occurring at younger ages than ever before. Depression is considered the common cold of mental disorders, yet parents are less likely than teenagers to identify serious depression. Every parent should be familiar with the symptoms and how to respond to them.

Common symptoms of...

Reading the Holocaust

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 15:57

The Holocaust Library is a seven-volume set covering one of the most horrific periods in history. Appropriate for middle-school-aged gifted students, it provides a critical examination of the people and events of the Holocaust.

Each volume focuses on a specific topic. The Nazis and The Death Camps, by William W. Lace, and The Final Solution and Nazi War Criminals, by Earle Rice Jr., analyze the perpetrators of the Holocaust and the political atmosphere worldwide that led to the imprisonment and execution of six million Jews. The Resistance, by Deborah Bachrach; The Righteous Gentiles, by Victoria Sherrow; and The...